Idiosyncrasy
by Spunky Panda
Summary: Set prepilot. Max's past finally catches up with her, and it threatens the identity she has created for herself.
1. Chapter 1

People's lives are shaped by the past.  Everything that has ever happened comes together to create the present as we know it.

Max has many defining moments, ones that even now, years later, are shaping her world.

When Lyle broke his arm during basic training and the doctor told him about family to distract him, it was first time they thought of themselves as more than a unit.

When Zack and Tinga decided they all needed names, it was the first time they had an identity of their own.

When the Blue Lady came through the janitor, that night, and Ben created hope for them, it was the first time they had something to believe in.

When 421, who refused a name, was killed by Syl's stray bullet, it was the first time one of their own had fallen.

When they ripped the convict apart for being a Nomlie, it was the first time they were exposed to the beast inside of them.  The bloodlust was something she could not soon forget, the warmth in the back of her mouth, the death still clinging to tiny hands.

When Jack was taken away and cut up, it was the first day one of them had outlived their usefulness.

When Lydecker shot Eva through in the chest with a cold gun and a cold heart, she lost the ability to kill in cold blood.  Guns still remind her of that, of the cold.

The escape shaped her the most, though.  If Zack hadn't gotten them out, she wouldn't be in a bar with Original Cindy and Herbal Thought and Kendra and Sketchy and Natalie.  She wouldn't be drinking and laughing and playing pool.

There would be no bike messenger, just an assassin, a weapon, a tool.  Runs would be missions, and signatures would be debriefs.  Heists wouldn't be about making money for Walter and her bike and Vogelsang, but about power plays and information.

She thinks about this as she watches her friends from the bar.  She's only known them for a year or so, but she would do anything for them.

Original Cindy is the best friend she's ever had.  Outside of Manticore, that is.  OC's nice, and spunky, and makes her feel like a normal girl.  Makes her feel like one of those regular people she sees on the streets, wrapped up in their own little world, not looking over their shoulders for soldiers.

She knows it isn't smart to lose sight of herself, and of the danger she's in.  The phrases, "Never let your guard down," and, "The enemy is everywhere," project themselves into her mind.  It's so much a part of her instinct, that she can't help but scan the bartender for weapons, and peer at the girl at the entrance with cat eyes.

Much to her surprise, the girl catches her watching.  There is a burning in Max's chest, an aching almost, but it stays long after the girl looks away.

Those eyes look so familiar, Max thinks.

Max must look distracted, and she is, because when Original Cindy walks up, she says, "Hey girl, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Max dismisses.  The thought of Original Cindy finding out about what she is, of losing the only real friend she's had, is so painful that it must be avoided at all costs.

Original Cindy isn't convinced, Max can tell, but she knows that Max has secrets that aren't meant to be revealed.

Max and Original Cindy go back to the table with another pitcher of beer, talking of Normal and work and trying to forget their day.

A while later, after Natalie has taken Sketchy home, the four hang out in mostly silence, as only good friends can.

Max offers to get another pitcher, and even though the others refuse, she makes her way back to the bar for a refill.  She catches a glimpse of the girl on her way there.  She's dancing with Timothy, a sleaze who hits on Max every time she sees him.  Her long black hair flies in every direction when she spins, but settles back, straight and perfect.

She finds herself at the bar.  She asks for another, and turns back to study the girl.  Her features are lighter than Max's, mostly Caucasian, but with a hint of exotic origins.  The light blue eyes are rimmed in a much darker shade, and they stand vibrantly out of her face.

She throws her arms around Timothy and looks over him at Max.  Her eyes narrow, and the passion and joy on her face are overshadowed by cold calculation.  I know you're watching me, they say.

Max pulls herself away, and takes the pitcher from the bartender.  Her eyes can't help but seek out the girl as she turns back to the table.

The pure pleasure of the dancing, and of the music, has returned to her as she spins in a wild and beautiful move.  With her hair whipping around, Max can just make out a blur of black on the back of her neck.

"Oh the Blessed Lady," she whispers.  The pitcher slips from her hand and shatters on the floor.  She stares at it, frozen, as many look on.

And then she turns and runs.  Blurs so fast Original Cindy can barely yell out before she's gone.

She doesn't see the alley, just the trees and the snow and the soldiers on her heels.

Later, she finds herself hiding in the closet in her apartment.  Barely breathing for fear the girl will hear her.  She struggles to slow her heart with personal knowledge that a Chimera could actually hear it beat.

The panic grips her, when she thinks of what will happen.  They will find her.  They will take her, and brainwash her, and turn her into _that_ again.  A killing machine with no identity of her own.  They'll strip away Max until 452 is all that's left.

She's calmed herself, now, and is almost in a meditate state when the phone rings.  And rings.  She's too afraid to answer it, to give away her location.  "Stay alert in enemy territory," she thinks.  "Stay hidden in enemy territory."

And then the machine picks up, and it's Original Cindy, and she sounds worried.  "I'm here," Max says in the phone, and Original Cindy finds her way back to herself.

"What was that about?" she asks.

"I just saw someone I'd rather not from...my past."  Max jumps slightly at a low creak, and keeps her eye on the door.

Original Cindy is overwhelmed with curiosity as, for the first time, Max brings up her mysterious past.  But Max sounds wound up, and so she doesn't push it.  "Everything aiight, boo?"

Max slowly picks up a knife from the counter, hand shaking slightly.  I won't go back there, she thinks.  I won't go back.  But she answers Original Cindy in a quiverless voice.  "Yeah.  It's just something I didn't want to deal with right now."

Original Cindy seems to understand, as she always does.  "Cool.  We can talk about it later, if you'd like."

Max would never like to talk about it, not with Original Cindy, not ever.  But she agrees, and hangs up the phone.

She walks cautiously over to the door, debating whether or not to take her bike and get out of town, or to hide here until Lydecker, who she's sure is behind this, gives up and gets out of her town.

And she feels in her chest the twisting that makes her unable to deny the possibility that the girl followed her, that there's a tac-team outside, ready to storm the apartment.

When she opens the door, the girl is waiting for her.  Before Max can stop herself, she's dropped the knife and is leaping on the girl.  They fall to the ground and struggle for control.

The girl kicks Max off her with a force that would kill a regular person.  They both pull themselves up, and circle each other, like predators.  The girl gets off the first hit, but Max blocks the following punches with a precision forced on her through years of training.  But there's something loose about Max's fighting that she can't help.  There's a softness to her stance from years on the outside.

As Max switches to the offensive, she's surprised to notice something similar in the girl.  She trained as anyone from Manticore is, but her moves are roughened with disuse.  Could she be one of the twelve?  The thought hits Max so hard that the girl is able to take her down.

The girl stands over her, her face as unreadable as Zack's ever was.  Max reacts instinctively and knocks her feet out from under her in a swift twisting kick move that has always been Max's favorite.

The girl falls, but catches herself with her arms before her face hits the ground.  Her hair falls forward, and in the second before she can move, Max sees her barcode.

332340090210.

X5-210.

Jondy.

May the Blue Lady be with me, Max thinks.

Jondy jumps up from the ground, ready before she's fully upright.  Max just stands there, eyes wide, face frozen, body limp.  It's odd behavior for an X5, and Max does not seem like such a threat at the moment, so Jondy hesitates before striking.

For a moment.

But as she swings her arm back for momentum, Max whimpers Jondy's name, and she stops.

"What did you call me?" Jondy asks, her voice so powerful, yet so close to breaking.

"Jondy," Max says, more sure of herself now.  "It's me.  It's Max."

Jondy doesn't believe her.  "No.  No, it can't be," she shouts.  "I left Max under the ice!  I left her to die!"  And she starts crying, her stance slackening.  Max turns and pulls her curls aside, flashing her barcode at Jondy.

"Maxie?"

Awhile later, after Jondy's cleaned up and Max has fixed them coffee, they sit in Max's kitchen and talk.

"I can't believe you're really here!" Jondy exclaims once again.  Her whole life the memory of the water and ice and hummers over the hill has haunted her.  She always felt like she betrayed Max.  She still does, a little.

Max just smiles.  After the fear, and the shock, and the fight, a strange and wonderful calm had come over her.

"Who have you been since the escape?" Jondy asks, no longer willing to dwell on a nightmare that's over now.

"I stayed with a family for a while, but the pulse hit and I got out of there.  I wandered around for a while, thieving to keep my head above water, and ended up here.  I met some friends, and they got me a job at a bike messenger place."  She rubs her finger along the rim of her untouched coffee, remembering.

She looks up at Jondy, who watches her, fascinated.  "The friends I met, they're great.  It's the first time I've felt part of something like this since you guys."  Max only hints at how much the need to find her family consumed her life.

"Anyway, what about you?" Max asks.  This is what she's being waiting for since they were separated nine long years ago.

Jondy shrugs off her former enthusiasm, but maintains the joy of being a sister again.  "I found my way to Seattle pretty much right after I got out.  I joined a street gang for a while, until I learned what it was like out here.  Then I found a place to stay and started working, with a little pilfering on the side.  A few years later, I met a guy, fell in love, and got my heart broken."  Max has never been heartbroken, or in love.  She's too busy hiding to let love in.

Jondy sighs.  "I know.  We're not built for that kind of thing.  I was tragically inept at it.  But anyway, I left town, and moved to California.  San Fran.  I worked days as a mechanic, and nights as a bartender."

Max absorbs this.  She wants to know why Jondy's here, but can't bring herself to ask.

Jondy continues.  "I'd just lost my job at the bar because my boss is a jerk, and I'd been missing Jeremy, so I hitched a ride to Washington."

Jondy hasn't found Jeremy, and Max promises they'll look for him.

The next day, Max takes Jondy to Jam Pony to meet her friends.  Original Cindy stands at her locker, struggling to open it without damaging her newly manicured nails.

"Hey, Original Cindy," Max calls.  "Get over here."

Jondy looks around nervously.  Normal, eyes narrowed, walks up to her.

"Who's your friend, Missy Miss," he asks Max.  "And what the firetruck is she doing on company property?"

Original Cindy glares at Normal as she approaches.  Smacking him on the shoulder, she says, "None of your business, fool.  Get away."  Normal takes it, annoyed, but tolerant, and walks off to attend to more important business.

"Original Cindy, this is Jondy," Max says.  She sends a sidelong glance at Jondy.  "She's my sister."

Original Cindy is surprised, but figures it was one of the many secrets that shroud Max, and is glad to be able to see a piece of that.  "Nice to meet you," she says, and stretches out her hand for a shake.

They make small talk for a moment, but then Normal comes up and informs them they're needed on a run.

"Normal," Max calls after him.  "I'm taking today off to spend it with my sister."  They laugh when he throws up his hands in exasperation.

"I gotta jet," Original Cindy tells them.  "Hot run, you know?"  She turns to Jondy before she leaves.  "It was nice to meet you."

Max and Jondy start their search for Jeremy in Sector Five.  Jondy could sneak past the Sector Police, as she did before, but Max wants to search here before they resort to more extreme measures.

They go by some of Jeremy's old hangouts, in the hopes he's still there.

As they leap a fence that surrounds a warehouse, Max asks, "So what's so special about this guy anyway?"

"He's just so sweet, you know?  He's the most innocent person I've ever met."  Jondy tries the door, and when she finds it locked, she gestures for Max to do the honors.  "I wanted the innocence with me always, but he took it like I thought he was naïve."

They enter the building silently, catlike in their nature.  When it appears empty, Jondy goes on.  "This was his workshop.  I learned everything I know about mechanics from him."  There are some engine parts lying around, and plans for cars strewn across a large table.  Jondy walks over to it, running her hands slowly over everything.

"Did you ever tell him?" Max asks softly, looking around very carefully.

Jondy's hands settle on the back of his chair, and she turns her face toward Max.  "No," she says.  "About a million times I almost... But no.  I didn't."  She watches for Max's reaction.  When they were children, Max had always been the impulsive, bold one, going off on adventures, wandering around the facility at night.  Jondy often came along, but it is not in her nature to explore or take risks.

But Max understands.  She hasn't told her friends, she hasn't been willing to lose another family to who she is.

To shift away from the heaviness of the subject, Max tells Jondy, "It doesn't look abandoned.  From what I can tell, he still lives here."  Jondy agrees.

After a period of indecision, Jondy decides that they should come back later, when Jeremy's home.  She leaves him a note on her way out.

The sisters make their way through many a back alley before the reach a lively avenue.  Street urchins call out to them, and an old man begs for money, but they're in their own world now.

Max is telling Jondy about Sketchy and Herbal when Jondy stops dead in her tracks.  On a phone pole, not ten feet away, is a wanted poster with a picture of Jondy.  She's a little younger there, and her hair is shorter, but it is definitely her.  She's wanted for murder, with a reward of 50,000 dollars.

"Wha..." is the only word Max can form, but Jondy has no trouble letting out a string of curses.

"I had a run in with Lydecker about two years back, when I was still in Seattle," she explains, angrily glaring at the poster.

Max accepts this, and pulls Jondy away from the poster.  They make their way to Max's apartment to strategize what to do next.

As they turn onto her street, a hoverdrone catches Max's eye.  "Jondy," she cries, and Jondy quickly ducks her head.

Later, in Max's apartment, they decide the hoverdrone probably didn't get a good look at her.  They start planning for if this is not the case, but Kendra comes in.

"Hey, Max," she says, her voice as gravelly as ever.  "Who's your friend?"

Jondy flips her hair a little, feeling awkward.  Max answers, "Kendra, this is my sister Jondy.  Jondy, this is my roommate Kendra."

They size each other up, Kendra innocently, and Jondy not so innocently.  Jondy nods at her, and they shake hands.

Kendra picks up a bag she left by the door, and sets it on the counter.  "Max, I've gotta work this afternoon, but I'm making dinner tonight, okay?"

Max nods, and Kendra extends an invitation to Jondy.

After Kenda has changed and left for work, Max and Jondy reminisce on their lives back at Manticore.  As Jondy speaks of Ben's stories, familiar thundering sounds freeze them both.

Her fear tangible, Max says, "They're here."

The troops storm the building, but the girls dive out of the window before they bust into Max's apartment.  Jondy lands more gracefully than Max, but the fall phases neither.  Blurring, they fly down the street, away from everything.

But a hummer that neither noticed—everything blends together at that speed—blocks the end of the street.  Soldiers pile out of the car and charge at them, bullets flying.

Max leaps into the air and does a sort of pirouette, landing between two soldiers.  She kicks them with more force than necessary, before tucking into a roll that ends with her lashing out at another from the ground.

Jondy takes care of the other four, using their strength against them, even though she's stronger than any of them.

They jump onto the hummer, and from it leap to the roof of a nearby building.  They race across it, barely shifting their stride to get from building to building.  A helicopter locks onto them and starts shooting.

As they leap over an larger than average gap, a bullet catches Jondy in the leg, and she barely grabs onto the ledge.

"Max!" Jondy yells, and her sister reaches down to pull her up.  Another bullet grazes Max's shoulder, and her recoil causes them to fall into the alley below.

This time, neither of them land well.  Max struggles to recover, to stand up, but a endless row of soldiers spills into the alley, and knock the transgenics out.


	2. Chapter 2

When Max wakes up, she finds herself bound to a medical bed.  It takes her a minute to realize it, but she recognizes this place.  Manticore.

Her screams of horror fade to silence as a young doctor makes his way over to her bed.  Her instinct is to struggle, to scream, to fight her way out.  But she's strapped to the bed, and she needs to wait till the let her out of her bonds before she can escape.

"X5-452," he says, so expressionless she wonders if Manticore has beaten the curve yet again and developed robots.  "You are in perfect health.  It's time to start reprogramming."  He signals to four large X5s she hadn't noticed in the corner.

Two pin her down, while the others undo her restraints.  Each one grabs a limb, and they carry her out of the medical wing.  She struggles, wriggling and writhing frantically, but she cannot get loose.  After a few minutes, she relaxes.

She studies them, as is her habit.  The two in front, holding her legs, move with the confidence of soldiers, and the stiffness, but there is an edge of curiosity to them.  They glance at her every so often, and seem to communicate that curiosity to each other through looks.  The same for one of the holding her arm.

But the last one, he's more rigid than the rest, staring straight ahead with almost vacant eyes.  Max cranes her head back as far as it will go, finally getting a glimpse of his barcode.

331027369224.

"Damn," Max curses.  Lyle.  But he didn't act like Lyle, marching forward without so much as a flinch at her shout.  This is not the boy she knew, the one who discovered family, but a soldier.  He is X5-224.

They come to a large steel door.  One of the leg guys loosens his grip to open it, and Max takes the opportunity to free her foot.  She kicks him in the head, knocking him into the door.  She uses her free leg as leverage to pull her captive leg from other guy's grasp, and then does a split kick that breaks the noses of both X5-224 and his companion.  They slacken, not immune to pain, and she twists out of their grip.

Her foot connects with the jaw of X5-224 as he tries to get up.  One of the guards charges at her, but she flips him over her head.  Having sufficiently freed herself, Max turns to run, but a hand flies out and pulls her legs from under her.

She falls, smacking her head violently against the floor.

Her entourage shoves her through the now open door, and closes it before she can think to go back out.  Limp, she struggles to support herself.  She turns slowly, and her heart stops when she sees who is in the room with her.

"X5-452.  Or should I call you Max?"  Lydecker asks her, his voice as cold and strong as it has ever been.

She isn't scared.  She grew up with him, the frightening father.  She should not be scared of him.  She is older now; she knows he is not so mighty.  She can't breathe.

Her brain, her training—by Lydecker no less—tells her to attack.  She is infinitely stronger, faster, smarter, better than he is.  She could bring him to his knees in an instant.  But there are more X5s behind him, two guys and a rather butch woman.  And for the life of her, she can't help but be afraid.

The male X5s pick her up roughly and force her into a metal chair with thick leather straps.  The female, whose face is rounder than is usual for a soldier, looks down on her with something almost resembling sympathy.  It surprises Max.

Lydecker, feeling more confident now that he has the height advantage, raises his voice slightly.  "You are very valuable," he says.  "The Committee would like you to go through reindoctrination, but then how useful would you be?  Just another mindless drone, simplified to the point that all the mental enhancements would be nullified.  But loyalty is something that will be hard to gain back."  He looks at the other X5s for a moment, studying them thoughtfully.  "So we won't gain it, so much as take it back.  By breaking your will."

Max almost whimpers, but clamps her teeth down on it and refuses to show just how much control he still has over her.

She pulls herself together.  "What did you do to Lyle?" she asks him, fearlessly.

"Hmm?" he asks, unmoved by her bravery.

"X5-224!" she shouts, frustrated.

"X5-224," he repeats slowly, nodding.  "That, 452, is what you will become if I find that you are not sufficiently reformed.  It's a pity, because you are the best of the best, but what else can be done in the end?"

She screams at him, raw and primal, clawing with her bonded hands.

Lydecker doesn't take any notice, and leaves swiftly.  The X5s follow obediently.

She's left alone for several minutes, mind wandering down frightening paths.  She wishes she wasn't here.  She prays with all her might to the Blue Lady that this is all a dream.  She wonders where Jondy is.  Then she prays some more.

Max is pulled from her prayers when a small, hunched over man enters.

"I am Doctor Kruchev," he says.  "I will be your only friend for a very long while.  Enjoy it while you can."  And then he breaks her arm.

The torture lasts for three days.  Cuts and bruises, deep gashes that bleed rivers run up and down her body.  Her mouth is coppery with blood.  Every time she starts to fall asleep, she's shocked awake.  She wishes to die so it will stop.

It finally does.  She's escorted, by the same three X5s that tied her to the chair, through the long halls.  They are not so much restraining her, as supporting her.  She can hardly stand up, and so thoughts of escape never enter her mind.

She is led to a room, only just big enough for her to lie down in.  It's cold in here; she can feel the temperature clawing at her skin.

She lies down quietly, and they leave her alone.

For the first couple days, she's so out of it that she can't feel the time pass.  She spends most of it sleeping.  Max feels weak.  She's supposed to be an incredible super soldier.  Only seizures leave her this broken.

She wonders if she could possibly move.  She doesn't think it's likely.

Doctor Kruchev comes on the seventh day, and cleans her wound, completely lacking the maniacal edge he took on while torturing her.

The second week, she feels better.  Her body heals rapidly, and soon faint scars are the only evidence of abuse.  She starts planning her escape.  Step 1: Find Jondy.  Step 2: Get the hell out.  Not the most sophisticated plan, she'll admit, but it occupies her mind and gives her hope.

The third week she spends working out.  There's not much room, but she manages.

The forth week she thinks about her friends, and do they miss her, and will she see them again?

The fifth week she thinks of her and Jondy as kids.  About Zack and Krit and Brin and Lyle and Zane and Blade and Ben and Eva and Jack and Trixie and Gage and Jace and Tylas and Chancey and Syl and Ember and Krien.  About Ben's stories of the outside, and of the Blue Lady, and of their teeth.  Of training ops that masqueraded as games, and games that masqueraded as training ops.

The sixth week she can't think of anything but regret and doubt.  Why had they escaped if it just got them back here?  Why did she not tell her friends?  Why did she leave Lucy behind?  Why can't she love?  She feels like poison.

By the seventh week, she's going out of her mind.  When she's given her weekly bread and water, she's momentarily relieved of the insanity.  But then it comes back.  Little voices whispering at her, mocking her.  The walls close in on her, forcing her to huddle in a corner.

At the end of the seventh week, her three personal X5s come by to take her somewhere else.  She doesn't care where she's going.  She'd be willing to go through the torture again, as long as there is someone there to torture her.  As long as there is pain to distract her from her slowly wilting mind.

They take her to one of the classrooms, and tie her to a chair.  Doctor Kruchev comes in and puts a device on her that keeps her from closing her eyes or moving her head.  On a projector board that she still remembers they show slide after slide of propaganda.  Slide after slide of sayings she won't believe.

When a voice fills her head, she thinks she's finally gone crazy.  But then she recognizes it as Lydecker.

_You are nothing,_ the voice says.

_You are nothing. You are nothing.  You are nothing.  You are nothing._

_You are nothing without Manticore.  You told your friends what you are, and they betrayed you.  You disgust them.  You are nothing without Manticore.  You are nothing._

_You are loyal.  You are loyal.  Loyalty is all you have.  Loyalty to Manticore is all you have, because no one else will protect you._

_You are not a person.  You are not human.  You are above being human.  You are a soldier, born and breed to be a soldier.  You are nothing but a soldier.  You are not human._

Again she's not allowed to sleep.  The words flash in front of her, over and over and over.  Lydecker keeps talking.  She tries to block it out, but the words are there always.  She tries to convince herself it's not true.

_You are 332960073452.  Nothing more.  You are X5-452.  You are a soldier.  A soldier loyal to Manticore.  You have nothing but what Manticore gives you._

_Manticore__ is the only place you will be accepted.  Your friends would not accept you, they did not accept you.  You are 452._

_452452452452452452452452452452452452452452Max452452452452452452MaxMAX_

"Max," she screams.  "My name is Max.  I AM MAX!"

_Max452Max452452Max452452452452Max4524524524524524524524524524524524524524524524545245245245245245245245245245245245245245245245245245245245245245_

_332960073452. 332960073452.  X5-452.  Nothing more._

"Please state your designation," a man she knows says.  A sliver of fear burns through the numbness.  The man is Lydecker, but she can't remember anything beyond the name, and the fear.

"Designation: 332960073452.  X5-452, awaiting your instructions, sir."

The man—Lydecker—smiles.  "It's good to have you back, 452."

Through the fog, she can't remember where she's been.  "Sir?"

"You went away for a while," Lydecker says with a soft frown.  "But now you're back with your family."

X5-452 is led back to the barracks where the X5s not on missions stay.  She recognizes the place, and the beds, and for some reason the window in the corner, but not the people—soldiers, her mind corrects.

She's introduced to the CO, X5-165, and his 2IC, X5-494.  She's confused at the introductions—if she used to be here, before, wouldn't she know them?  But she shrugs it off.  Maybe they're new.

X5-165 is cold and commanding.  He looks down at her with ice in his eyes.  X5-494 laughs at her fear and confusion.  He's pretty at ease, and she can't comprehend him being 2IC.

The next morning they go for breakfast in the cafeteria.  It's smaller than she remembers, but she doesn't really remember it, so that may be why.

She's disappointed that the food is nothing more than concentrated protein, but wonders why.  They are not humans.  Humans need real food.  Soldiers do not.

She sits with a mixed group of X5s and X6s.  X5-254 takes the seat next to her.  "I'm you backwards," She says to him.  He laughs.

X5-918 is on her other side.  She has short, dark red hair, and big, sad eyes.  She smiles at 452 when no one else is looking.

X6-126 is across from her.  She's the youngest of all of them, maybe nine or ten.  Her face is always lit up, like she has candles behind her eyes.  She takes the phrases people around her use and parrots them back in song.

X5-494 sits next to her, and seems amused by the singing.  He tells the rest jokes at the expense of X5-254, but 254 just laughs it off.  He also comments that 452 is a traitor, but the word is meaningless to her, so she doesn't get angry.

If there wasn't a haze between her and everything else, she probably could have identified him as annoying.  But all she can look at are his hands.  In this light, they make shadows on the table when he gestures.  The shadows form figures in her mind, and she feels dizzy.

From breakfast they go to Basic Training.  They're led through a series of moves that she doesn't know why she knows.  Then they're asked to fight in pairs.

She's with X5-254.  She tells him, "It's like fighting myself upside down."  But it's not.  He's quicker than her—mildly—and stronger, too.  Every step he takes is calculated and perfect.

Sometimes she feels awkward, and her hands move differently than she intends them to.  She tries to do everything that man instructed them to—because this fight is about practicing those moves—but it all ends up rough and kind of sloppy.  And sometimes she doesn't do a move, even though she means to, because she knows she can't pull it off.

He finally pins her to the ground, but she knocks him back with a swift twisting kick move.  It takes him completely by surprise because it's a trick he's never seen before.  She leaps at him, and he tries to move out of the way, but she catches his hair.  Pulling his head back, she shoves him to the ground, and puts her knee in his back until he stops squirming.

"I give," he says, surprised at his own defeat.

That man declares her the winner.  The other X5 stop fighting to stare at her.  She wants to shrink under their eyes.  But 452 is a soldier and soldiers are not intimidated.

They have a break around noon.  452 sits under a tree with X5-254—because he likes her—and X5-918—because when 452 looks at her, she stops feeling nothing, and starts feeling sad.

X5-254, after checking that no one can hear them, asks 452 what it was like on the outside.

"The outside?" 452 asks, her mind ripping itself apart with conflicting confusion.  "Well," she says, "there are trees," she point to the tree they are sitting under, "and grass," which she also points out, "and sky."

"No." He frowns uncertainly.  "No, outside of Manticore."

"Without Manticore you are nothing," she recites.

254 is shocked.  "You wouldn't have escaped if that was true, or fought so hard to stay out there!"  His voice echoes slightly in the daylight.

"I escaped?" 452 asks, looking dazedly over at X5-918.  918 is watching her with wide eyes, but stays quiet.

"Yeah," 254 tells her, shaking his head at something.  "You and about 11 others made past the perimeter fence."

She feels a sharp pain in her head, and she cries out.  _Loyalty to Manticore is all you have._

_452452452452452452452452452452452Max452452452452452MaxMaxMaxMaxMax452_

_The Blue Lady will protect us, Maxie._

"Oh god, Ben," she cries.

_Loyalty to Manticore is all you have, because no one else will protect you.  Without Manticore, you are nothing._

"The Blue Lady," she yells at Lydecker, though he can't hear her.  "The Blue Lady will protect me!  Without me, Manticore is nothing!"

_452Max452Max452Max452MAx452Max452Max452Max452Max452Max_

_You are 332960073452.  X5-452.  Nothing more._

"I AM MAX!" she screams.  And suddenly she finds herself outside of the fog, under a tree with her new friends X5-254 and X5-918.

"My name is Max," she tells them.  "Not 452, not 332960073452.  Max."

Max decides they need names, too.  X5-254 is Sinclair, and X5-918 is Mindra.  When they ask her why those names, she can't tell them.

She talks about her friends—who did not, would not, could not betray her—about Original Cindy, and Sketchy, and Herbal, and Kendra, and even Normal.  She talks about Zack and Jondy and the others, about having a job and hanging out at Crash.

They can't look away from her.

Mindra's eyes are sadder than ever when break is over, and it's back to training.

It's Lydecker that trains them this time.  Max doesn't look at him, because she knows that he will see through her in a second if she does.  He leads them away, and Max gets a horrible aching in her chest when she realizes where they are going.

The tank.

Under the water, Max feels a panic rising up inside her.  Sinclair waves to get her attention.

_Are you alright?_ he signs.

She settles into herself, and finds a deep inner calm.  _I'm fine._

_I really like having a name._

She's not surprised.  Names make them more human.

_I think the others should have names, too._

Max thinks this over.  On one hand, no one deserved to be only a number.  But on the other, if Lydecker ever found out, she'd become 452 permanently.  _Can we trust them to not tell anyone?_

Sinclair looks conflicted.  Mindra, who's been watching the discussion from nearby, signals, _Max, Sinclair, I think most are trust worthy.  Really only the brainwashed X5's from your unit, Max, would tell Deck or the others, and they already have names, anyway._

Max thinks this is a fair point, and agrees that they will give the X5s names after training.

After six minutes, Max feels her life clawing it's way out of her chest.  She hasn't done this in ten years.  She hasn't built up her lungs as much as the rest of them.

As she starts to freak out, Sinclair grabs her.  Once his hands find her face, he presses his lips to hers and shares his oxygen with her.  He lets go, and she manages to stay conscious until the clamps release them.

"Good going, Sinclair," Mindra tells him, and it's the first time Max has heard her speak.  But now is not the time, and so Max grabs her arm to silence her, gesturing slyly at Lydecker.  Mindra nods.

Later, when they're back in the barracks, they lie awake as everyone else falls asleep.  It's easier for Max than the others, but adrenaline rushes through them every time they think of their names.

When Max is convinced that all the X5s are sleeping soundly, she signs to Mindra, _Wake the trustworthy ones._

She picks ten of the fourteen in their room—Max notices that none of which are X5-165—and wakes each of them up with a shake and a signal to be quiet.  Max leads them out the window, and they climb the up the pipe to the High Place.

Sinclair explains the concept.  X5-494 scoffs at them, but when Sinclair tells anyone unwilling to be named to leave, he quiets and looks at his feet.

"Okay," Max says.  "Why don't you guys line up and we'll give you your name."

X5-724 is a busty blond with a quick temper.  When she shouts at Mindra for getting such a unique name, Max dubs her Rage in revenge.

X5-337 becomes Adrian, and X5-678 becomes Selena.  X5-531 finds herself Sita, and X5-213 finds himself Chandresh.  X5-147 is now Spunky, and X5-834 is now Panther.  X5-673 is Leo, and X5-264 is Gemini.

X5-494, Max can now distinguish, is extremely annoying.  As she ponders an name that will express just that, he says, "Could we speed this up?  I'd rather not be around you crazy-naming people for too long—I might catch whatever you got on the outside."

Max can feel her heckles rise, but she takes a deep breath and counts to ten.  "I'm gonna call you Alec," she says, smiling at him for the first time.

"Alec?"

"As in smart aleck."

Alec thinks about it, then nods.  "Yeah, I can live with that."

"Good," she says, "cause my second choice was Dick."

Mindra laughs a little, and her eyes aren't quite so sad.  Alec, a little giddy about his name, but not wanting to show it, snaps, "Are we going inside anytime soon?"

Max finds herself relaxing around her new friends.  They sit at dinner, a happy mix of named X5s and unnamed X5s from another unit and a couple of X6s.  They talk about training, and Lydecker, and Selena even asks about the outside.  She feels calmer than ever, explaining it to them, the heavy burden of freedom gone from her now.  She doesn't have to worry every second about Lydecker finding her.  She doesn't have to lie to her friends, hide from her friends.  It's exhilarating.

 But there is fear in her heart that she cannot ignore.  Lydecker is still dangerous—he could still take away her identity.  And the weight of imprisonment is almost as heavy as constantly looking over her shoulder.

Alec shifts as she talks to Selena about meeting up with Jondy.  He likes the name she gave him, and having an identity.  But he does not like her.  He cannot allow himself to trust her.  "I'm so glad you found your fellow traitor," he tells her spitefully.

Max feels attacked and vulnerable.  Her almost hopeful thoughts of a future at Manticore—thoughts she can't believe she even had—are immediately wiped out.  She rounds on Alec, anger rising up within her.  "We are not traitors," she says, her voice so deadly calm that a hush falls over the table.  X6-126, who had been cheerfully listening to Max's tales, cringes and finds herself drawn toward Alec.

Max almost feels bad about frightening a innocent girl—even one who's strangely connected to Alec—but a righteous rage has taken control of her.  "We are not traitors," she says again.  "We left because it was horrible here!"  Her voice echoes through the quiet cafeteria.

"Boo hoo," Alec cries, just as passionate as Max.  "Suck it up soldier!  You think you had it bad?  How do you think it was for the rest of us after you left?"  Max is surprised to see the other X5s nodding mildly.  She'd never thought about that.  She never thought about the effects of her escape.  "Cowards," Alec mutters.

"We are not cowards," she yells at him, earlier hesitance forgotten.  "We're not the cowards for leaving; you're the coward for not leaving!"

Alec is so completely frustrated that he can't speak.  Max is glaring intently at Alec, and is startled when Gemini speaks up for him.  "Look," she tells Max rationally, "We don't blame you for escaping.  Most of us wanted to.  But we've suffered for your freedom.  Hours of Psy-Ops and torture.  The ones in your unit that you left behind had their independence taken away.  So forgive us for being a little resentful."

Max opens her mouth, and then closes it.  She knows in her heart that she has done nothing wrong, but she feels like she has.  That she alone is to blame.  But she didn't even really want to escape—it was Zack's idea!  Regardless, guilt swirls around inside her because she enjoyed a free life while they spent theirs in cages.

"It's not her fault," Sinclair tells them.  "Stop blaming Max for Manticore's disregard for us.  All she did was get out of a bad situation."

Alec finds his words again.  "Look, he's protecting his little friend," he says savagely.  "It seems there is another traitor in our bush."  His voice becomes animalistic and rough, and it doesn't quite seem to be him talking anymore.  "Rat.  Snake.  Plague!"  

Max cries out at this.

Sinclair and Gemini start shouting at the same time:

"You are the plague!  You are the one who won't let us try to escape!  You're keeping us here!"

"Betrayers!  We were betrayed by our own kind!  They left us here at the mercy of Lydecker!"

Mindra is not listening to any of it.  She just sits silently and watches X6-126, who moved away from Alec when he started shouting, and is desperately trying not to cry.  Mindra's eyes are dry, but full of sorrow.  "Stop," she says quietly.  "Stop it."  But she's drowned out by the voices and the anger and the blame.

Rage, who has been surprisingly passive during the argument, sees this.  "Stop," she shouts at the top of her lungs.  "Stop it."  The argument drops off, and they all look at her.  "Look what you are doing to the kid," she says.  "Look what you're doing to each other."

Max has been quiet for several moments, but self-disgust coils around her nonetheless.  She screamed at Alec, while Rage—AKA the angry chick—managed to stay out of it and even was the one to stop it.  Admittedly, Rage wasn't the one being attacked and called a traitor, but still.

Alec looks at X6-126 guiltily.  She's put her trust into him.  Ever since he caught her when she fell from a tree, she has turned to him.  He is afraid that she no longer sees him as her benevolent benefactor.

He reaches out to her, but she ducks out of the way and sits by Rage, who Alec knows she has always feared.

Sinclair damns his protective instinct.  He's torn between his newfound friendship with Max, the strange ex-escapee, and his loyalty to his CO, and his unit, and even to Manticore.  He notices Mindra watching him passively, and worries about her.  She used to be very quiet, never speaking, always observing.  When he befriended her a few years ago, she opened her shell ever so slightly.  Now he's worried that all the drama that Max brought has driven her back inside.

But then Max, who's finally wrestled down her guilt, turns to Mindra and speaks softly to her.  The shields on Mindra's eyes lower a bit, and Sinclair slips off that particular burden.

Gemini feels violated.  A side of her—savage, predatory, and unrelenting—that she has suppressed as a soldier forced it's way to the surface.  She understands her darker nature.  She now knows of the deep, uncontrollable anger that has always hidden in her belly.

And she finds that the anger toward Max, of what was done to them because of the escapees, is somewhat misplaced.  She can't help but think that Max is a victim; she can't help but think that they are all victims of Manticore.

Rage can't wait until everyone returns to normal, and she can be the mean one again.  She likes X6-126 okay, but the clinging and whimpering and hiding from Alec is getting on her nerves.

When the yelling started, Selena noticed the guard run off to get reinforcements.  She's worried, but she doesn't tell this to anyone.  When the guard returns with a few dozen brainwashed X5s, all she does is point to them.


	3. Chapter 3

Everyone at the table, whether or not they participated in the argument, is led to private cells.

Max is taken back to the room she was tortured in, by her three favorite X5s.  She is tied to the same chair, but she doesn't fight it this time.  The fear twisting around in her, clawing at her insides, is too great to overcome.  She's losing her self because Alec thinks she's a traitor.  But she didn't have to respond!  She can't believe how they all lost control.

The door opens very slowly.  Lydecker walks in at a leisurely pace, but his face is scrunched up in disappointment.  "452," he says.  "Do you know how frustrating it is to see so much hard work and money going down the drain, and all because you won't forget the outside?"

Max is nearing the end of consciousness as she knows it.  She isn't so scared of Lydecker anymore.  He can take no more from her than he is about to anyway.

"I feel sorry for you," she tells him, "I really do.  To have all your pathetic little dreams crushed because I won't _obey_.  You failed.  You created people, not soldiers, and there is nothing you can do about it."

She can feel his iron mask dent with the weight of her accusation.  He shakes his head.  "You failed.  You are the failure.  You are nothing."

It echoes in her mind like a far off dream.  But it fades and she knows he is wrong.  "Zack was your best soldier, and he betrayed you.  Because he knows more than you taught him.  Because he is better than you."

Lydecker takes this blow harder than the last.

"You are nothing—just a sad little man with his sad little empire.  You are nothing without us."

His face splits with rage and fear and something she can't identify, and then his fist connects with her face.  Max can feel the blood coming from her lip.

"This is my blood," she says.  "This is Max's blood, and it means more than yours.  Her life means more than yours, because you are an ordinary, and she is a transgenic.  Because she is superior to you."

The pressure she applies causes his will to groan with the strain.  But he pulls himself together, and throws off the doubts she has placed on him.  "Your reprogramming," he tells her, curling his tongue around the word, "starts in one hour.  Enjoy the last few minutes of independent thought."

He turns to the three X5s standing at attention.  "X5-399, you'll stay with 452."  The butch woman nods at him.  "I fear the others may fall victim to her female wiles."  Even though the male soldiers keep their faces impassive, Max can tell they feel insulted.  But they leave with Lydecker when he commands it.

Max sits in her chair, and feels the despair crawling up inside of her.  X5-399 stares stiffly at a wall behind Max.

"399," she says after a minute.  "You're the one that looked a me before.  Why?"

She doesn't respond, just keeps looking at nothing.

Max tries again.  "You seem to be on permanent guard duty, but you don't seem like the others—brainwashed, I mean."

399's eyes flick to Max for a second, before she resumes her impassive staring.

"Why aren't you in the regular unit?  Why aren't you with the rest of the X5s?"  Max pulls at 399 with a penetrating gaze.  "What is different about you?"

After much struggling, 399's eyes lock with her own.  "On my twelfth mission," she says, in a voice fractured with disuse, "I was CO of my team.  I made a bad call, and they all got killed.  Manticore is not so very kind to those who make bad calls."

Max feels herself returning the sympathetic look that 399 gave her long ago.  "That's so horrible."

399 shrugs.  "It's not so bad.  I'm not put in situations where I have to make decisions that affect other people's lives.  It's liberating not having that kind of responsibility."

"399," Max says, "Can you help me get out of here?"

"Why?  From what I hear, the world is full of choices and consequences and affects.  It's unfortunate that you have to be reprogrammed, but it might actually work out better for you."

"But..." Max tries, desperation crushing her hope, "But I like my choices.  I like my freedom.  It's what I live for!  Don't let them take it from me!"

399 is not convinced.  "If I help you, I'll being going against Manticore, against Lydecker," she says, conflicted.

"Please," Max cries, "Please help me!  I have friends on the outside, people I love that miss me and worry.  I have a name—Max—and an identity.  I am someone, and you can't let them strip it away from me!"

399 just watches her, and Max crosses her fingers and prays to the Blue Lady like she has never prayed before.  She wonders why she does it anyway—when has the Blue Lady ever come through for her, for any of them?  Nevertheless, she begs for a second chance on the outside.

And then 399 nods, and undoes her bonds.

"Thank you, thank you," Max says breathlessly, getting out of the chair that confined her while Lydecker taunted her and Doctor Kruchev tortured her.  She stops as she comes to the door, and turns back to face 399.  "Do you know where my friend Jondy, 210, is?"

"She's in the East Wing, Section B, in one of the cells.  She took longer to break than you, so she's still in isolation.  Your other friends, the ones from the main X5 unit, plus an X6, are there, too."

"Thank you," Max says softly.  "I'm going to call you Hope, because you gave me hope when I had none."

She runs through the halls, aged memories of this place finding their way to her.  There is an emotion bursting forth inside of her, but she cannot tell what it is.  She wonders if it is hope, or if it is fear.

And all she can think about is that the Blue Lady has saved her.  That the Blue Lady really does protect them.

She finds Section B of the East Wing, and notices that all the doors have sophisticated locks on them, locks that she has no chance of opening.

She silently slinks to the control center of Section B.  Pressing herself against the wall, she peers though the door at the security guard slouching in his chair.  There is a wall of monitors in front of him, and she wonders how he doesn't know she's here, but then she notices the Gameboy in his hand and stifles a laugh.  She's not getting caught because the guard likes Tetris.

She sneaks behind him slowly, then knocks him out before he knows she is there.  She quickly grabs his game, pauses it, and sets it in front of him.  She snatches a couple card keys from his pocket and is back in the hall within seconds.

She glances in the window of the first iso chamber, but finds Sinclair instead of Jondy.  He startles when he sees her, but jumps up as she opens the door.

"Take this," Max says, handing him a spare key card.  "They seem to open all the doors.  You get the rest out, and I'll get Jondy."

He takes it silently, and then follows her command.  Max looks in each chamber as she blurs past, until she spots Jondy hunched over in one of them.

When she opens the door, Jondy doesn't respond.  She just sits lifelessly in a corner, hugging herself.  Max approaches her slowly, suddenly unsure of what to do.

"Jondy?" she asks.  "Jondy, are you okay?"

After a minute, Jondy swings her dull gaze up at Max.  "Jondy, it's me, Max."  Max receives a blank stare, and she feels as though her heart is being bashed against a rock.  "Jondy, I'm Max.  You know, X5-452, your sister."  Max turns and parts her hair, exposing her barcode to Jondy.

Jondy's eyes remain stagnant and empty.

"Oh god," Max cries.  "Jondy, I need you right now!  We don't have time for you not to remember me."  Jondy turns away from Max's pain.

Max cannot stop the tears that steadily form.  She's wiping away the rivers of grief when Alec and X6-126 appear in the doorway.  X6-126 is hanging on to Alec's arm, her earlier fear forgotten.

The room is dark, and her head is bowed, so Alec doesn't see her tears.  He tells her, "Max, I gave her a name.  Lark—you know, like the songbird.  Anyway, the rest of the X5s here want to leave, they understand why you left now.  Not that they didn't, but—Max, why are you crying?"

Max cannot control her breathing anymore.  "Jondy isn't Jondy.  She's 210," Max says, her voice hitching.

Alec softens, and Lark cautiously approaches Max.  When she is close enough, she slowly reaches down and grabs Max's hand with her own.  "Maxie," she says in that sweet, lyrical voice of hers.  "Maxie, it's time to go.  Don't you want to go home?"

A dream-like tranquility takes hold of her, and she pulls herself up and gives Lark a very soft hug.

Then she turns to Jondy, and carries her out of the cell.

The hall is shadowed, and carries the same cold, clinical air as the rest of Manticore.  But it's safe, for now, and the rest of the X5s are gathered here, shifting anxiously, eyes twitching.  "You really want to get out of here?" Max asks as she sets Jondy down.

Sinclair and Mindra and Lark and Rage and Alec and Gemini and Selena and Adrian and Chandresh and Panther and Sita and an unnamed soldier who Max knows to be X5-704 and Spunky all nod.  But Leo does not.

"It's a pretty big risk, escaping," he says.  "I mean, what if we get captured on our way out, or a while later, or whenever, and we're back here, but as prisoners."

Max remembers being recaptured, and then tortured, and then in iso when she almost went insane from the silence, and then in the classroom where she lost herself.  She remembers the fog, and the numb, and her fractured identity.  She looks at Jondy, who stares vacantly back.  But through this sadness, she remembers the outside, and Original Cindy, and her job, and Normal, and Sketchy, and Crash, and Jeremy.

"It is so worth it," she says.  "Freedom is worth all of that. 'They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.'  Or so says Benjamin Franklin."

Leo, with the shaggy hair that earned him the name, feels his resolve begin to crack.  "But..." he says, "it doesn't seem like the wisest plan, to escape.  They can follow right behind us, and catch us and..." he let his sentence trail off, unwilling to speak of the consequences.

"Look," Max says, and ideas race through her head.  "What about if we don't _just_ escape, but hurt them while we do it?"  She's enthusiastic about this plan, and wonders why she never thought of it before.

"Yeah," Alec chimes in, gesturing wildly as he speaks.  "If we blew up the DNA lab, things would fall apart here in a long-term sense, and it would distract them for the short term."

Max feels excitement swell up inside of her.  She spends a moment gazing at each of the X5s, remembering what she's seen of their fighting during basic training.  Then she tries to recall Zack as she puts on her most commanding voice.  "Sinclair, Adrian, Alec, and Panther—you're with me.  Mindra, take the rest and get out of here.  We'll meet in you in Seattle in a place called Jam Pony, in sector 5."

Mindra, who has always avoided confrontation, chooses now to assert herself.  "I'm going with you."

Max doesn't have to respond, though, because, Sinclair gives Mindra a severe enough look for the both of them.  "Mindra," he says, and it seems he's always known her by that.  "Mindra, I love you, and you are a wonderful person.  You really understand people, and you are kind, and allow us to be ourselves.  But you are not a warrior.  You are a watcher, a healer, a helper, a lover.  And I do not want you to get hurt."

Mindra both softens and hardens with his speech.  Her eyes, normally so sad and ever watching, become sharp green ice.  "Don't tell me what to do.  I'm coming with you.  And you can't stop me."

Max walks up to Mindra.  She stares into those icy holes, her own eyes powerful.  "Mindra," she says, kind but firm.  "We need you to lead them out.  You know these people—their personalities, their strengths, their weaknesses, their fears.  You are the best one to help them take their freedom."

Against the force of both Sinclair and Max, and even a little bit of herself, Mindra yields.

Rage is playing absently with her uncomprehendingly blonde hair, bored with the emotional turmoil.  "Rage," Max tells her, "You're in charge of Lark.  Make sure she gets out of here, and stays safe."  Then Max turns to Chandresh.  "You are in charge of Jondy," she says, gesturing toward her dazed friend.  "You'll have to carry her, but you're strong, and I'm sure you'll be fine."  He looks like he wants to protest, but he is good at following orders, and so he doesn't.

Mindra has led them down several corridors when she finds what she's looking for.  An observation room, with a bay of windows facing the training area.  This is where Lydecker goes to observe them.  He sickens her.

She gestures silently, and the X5s kick the glass until it shatters.

Mindra stands at the edge, peering warily down.  The room is two stories up, and despite secure knowledge of transgenic feats, fear still courses through her blood.  She glances back at the others, especially Lark and Jondy, and then does a swan dive out of the building.

There isn't snow like there was with the '09 escape—or so she hears—but the ground is soft from an earlier rain.  She turns back to watch the others.  Most dive out in a similar fashion, but Chandresh drops Jondy into the waiting arms of Leo and 704 before he makes a leap.  And Rage jumps feet first, with Lark clutching tightly to her.  Her legs buckle when she hits the ground, but Lark is unharmed.

It's dark outside, pitch black if it weren't for the spotlights waving around.  Mindra gives Rage a moment to recover, and then signals for them to run.  They've barely gained momentum, though, when an alarm—_the_ alarm—goes off.

The blaring is so sharp that Jondy can feel it cut away at her, slicing at the haze as it goes.  She feels heavy footsteps under her, and even though they are not hers, she can remember doing this before.  She was cold, with the snow and the naked soles and the bare head.  Max must have been cold, she thinks, freezing in the icy water.

But she can't think about that moment without the guilt that falls upon her.  It knocks into her, and she is jarred into a place where the fog is not so thick.

She remembers that Max didn't judge her, not about leaving her for dead, or about loving Jeremy, or about lying to Jeremy.  And then she remembers the man that she loved, that loved her, that kept her from despairing about her family.  He taught her everything she knows about mechanics.

Her love for him, her refusal to leave him, kept her from breaking.  It gave her something solid to hold onto, no matter what.

And now it pulls her from the fog, and she wonders who this is that is carrying her.

Panther runs ahead of the group with a stride that resembles her namesake.  She knows exactly where to go, so unlike the rest, she's not weighed down by explosives.

A quick turn right, a quick turn left, a dash down a long corridor; a subdued guard here, a knocked out X7 there.

And then they come across their means of revenge on the life-giving, soul-sucking, freedom-taking Manticore.  Their home, their enemy, and everything in between.  Panther doesn't know if she can do this—destroy everything she's ever known for a possibly mythical place called "the outside."  But Max is in charge now, and she will follow her anywhere.

When inside, Max and Alec, hearts pounding almost in unison, start to set up the plastic explosives.  But Max stops when she sees her barcode.

"It's me," she says.  "And there's Zack, and Brin, and Tinga.  And you, Alec, and Ben, and Jondy, and the rest.  We're all here."

"Max," Panther says, and it's the first time she's spoken to her.  "We have a job to do.  We've got to get out of here."

Max nods, and collects herself.  "Are you okay?" Alec asks.

"Yeah."  But as she lifts her arm to place the next explosive, a noise that reminds her of a soul ripping apart fills her head, and she wonders if it is her heart finally giving out.  She realizes it's an alarm, and shouts, "Hurry," to the rest.

Panther guards the door as Sinclair and Adrian quickly wire it.  "Let's go," Sinclair yells.

They run through the halls, minds blurring, alarms blaring, lives flashing before their eyes.  Suddenly, Panther stops.  She pulls out a remote, and her hand hovers nervously over the large red button.  She can do this.  No she can't.  She can do this.  Oh my god, no she can't.

"Panther," Max hisses, "Do it now!"

The explosion echoes through the halls, and Max almost cries out in happiness.  It reverberates through all of them, and they absorb it for a moment before reestablishing their frantic pace.

Outside, spotlights cut through the dark, sending shivers through the X5s avoiding them.  They dash frantically toward the forest, toward the fence, toward freedom.  Max feels a bitter taste in her mouth she knows is adrenaline, and she thanks Manticore for giving her the abilities she needs to take them down.

She can hear the soldiers, and the hummers, and the panic ringing in her ears, but she can see snow, too, and so she can't tell how much of it is in her head.

As she ducks through the dense, earthy trees of the forest, she hears four other hearts beating and ragged breathing and wishes to go home.  She wonders what Original Cindy is doing.  She wouldn't be at work now, but it's too early to go home.  She's probably at Crash, kickin' it with some lickety-boo, playing pool, having too much fun to worry about Max.

But Max knows that Original Cindy would notice her disappearance, and worry, and the lickety chick would have to find some other girl to hang with.

The crunching of dead leaves under the thick soles of combat boots alerts the group of potential escapees to the X7s on their tail.  Max's body blurs, faster and faster in time with her pulse and her fear and a raw, primal anger that clings to her chest.  X7s are faster than X5s.  The steps become louder and louder, as rapid as machine gunfire, staccato and rhythmic and pounding against them.

They break into a clearing, which clues them in that they are almost there.  Freedom so close that it reaches out to the willing, anxious, longing souls.  And then the X7s break into the clearing, and one of them fires, and a bullet brings Panther down.

Max almost breaks, torn between the unrestrained liberty of the outside, and the fellowship among X5s.  She pauses—stay or go, stay or go.

Adrian rushes back to Panther, leans over her, hugs her to his chest, but it's too late, she's gone.  He holds her and cries and X7s surround him, their faces youthful and savage and stone cold.

The X5s attack.  Max lunges at one, almost falling when she realizes this is Zack's clone.  Zack who led the first escape.  But she knows it's not him for the malevolence in his eyes, and tackles him.  Pining him down, she punches recklessly at his face, fist connecting with young flesh, bones cracking under her blows.

She flips off of him, and gives Jondy's clone a kick in the stomach that sends her flying back into the trees.  She grabs the wrist of an arm thrusting at her, and snaps it between her fingers.  There is something ancient and feral, ruthless and unrefined about her fighting, about her.  Something that is neither Max nor 452, but the animal within her, the animal that Manticore tried to tame and control and manipulate, but it would not be dominated.

She remembers the blood lust from that day, with the convict, with the Nomlie that they tore apart.  The luscious red life drying into death on her hands.

And then all the X7s are down, and Max feels dizzy, and Panther's dying by her feet, and the blades of a helicopter cut through the air with choppy precision, and she thinks of the death in her life—of 421, of the convict, of Jack, of Eva, of Lyle's identity, and of Lydecker's soul.  

"We've got to go," Alec says, his voice full of panic and strength and Max knows why he is 2IC.  "Come on Adrian—she's gone, she's gone.  Let's go."

But Adrian won't leave, because Panther is his sister in every way—from shared ancestry, to love, to protection, to connection.  Fragments of his heart fall onto Panther as he cries.  Fragments of his heart caused by the loss of her.

Sinclair grabs Adrian roughly, and pulls him to his feet.  "There's nothing we can do for her," he tells the grieving soldier, brother, friend.

And they run with all their might toward the perimeter fence—that tall web of wires that cages their hearts and cuts off their circulation.

As Max flies over it for the second time in her life, she realizes what she's known all along—that Manticore could never capture her soul, only her body, and that she has always been free.


End file.
